(Film «Ballad of a soldier»)

As can be told from the names of most of the Russian films during the pre-World War I time as well as the Soviet era, the vast majority of the films produced are about important events that have or are occurring in Russia or involving Russia.  Notable examples of this are Sergei Eisenstein’s silent film Battleship Potemkin which tells the story of the events that lead up to the 1905 Revolution, more specifically the mutiny that occurred in 1905 when the crew of Potemkin rebelled against their officers of the Tsar regime.  Another example is the Soviet film, Ballad of a Soldier (pic. 6), which is a World War II film that tells the story of a Russian soldier who is trying to go home during a leave from the line of duty.  Yet another example is the film Circus, in which an American circus artist gives birth to a black baby, who is discriminated against until the he takes refuge in the Stalin Soviet Union, where he is embraced by the Soviets.  These type films are the typical Russian films before western influence was brought to Russia.  With a large amount of themes censored out of the films by the government, filmmakers produced films that always showed Russians as the good guys, whereas Americans and the Germans were almost always the bad ones.  Many of their films were also war movies depicting the brave actions of Russian soldiers while throwing in a love story every now and then to keep the audience interested.

All of this ended quite abruptly when the Soviet Union began to collapse.  Censorship become more and more lax and eventually all themes were allowed to be shown in the films, ending with the acceptance of sexuality and drugs into Russian films.  The first real influence of Hollywood in Russian film was seen in Russia’s version of American Westerns, “Ostern”, which mean “Eastern”.  The Russian filmmakers were clearly imitating the Westerns we are used to in the United States. They used parts of Yugoslavia, Mongolia, and the Southern USSR to create the backdrops for the scenes.  The themes of the movies were basically a pure imitation:  guns, horse riding, working the land, pioneers, railroads, and outlaws going across the rugged countryside.  

However, there are differences between the two; there is much more sympathy for working people, Native Americans, and Mexicans, most probably due to the fact that the Russians had no real encounters with the latter two, and thus had no grudges against them.  The most noticeable example of this is in the movie, The Sons of the Great Bear, where the Native Americans are the heroes, whereas the American Army is the enemy, which is the case mostly because of the ongoing Cold War, during which Americans could never be portrayed positive in any way.  However, the outlaws in the movies have the same disdain for the business class as well as religion and the “American dream”.

                In the mid-80’s, following these Westerns, censorship was relaxed even more, to the point where it was basically non-existent.  The two main themes that remained to be uncensored were sexuality and drug use.  There are two significant films that depict these two themes.  The Needle is a movie that tells the story of a man named Moro who is seeking to get back the money a man owes him.  While waiting for this money he visits his ex-girlfriends Dina who is now a morphine addict.  The movie describes how he tries to help her quit and fight the mafia which is exploiting her.  Drugs and the Mafia are themes that are very common now in Hollywood films such as The Godfather, and the more recent film American Gangster.  Another movie, Little Vera, is a film about a couple who fall in love with each other and who want to get married, but the girl’s parents including her alcoholic father object.  After lying to her father about being pregnant, the girl Vera, they get married, but Sergey, her husband and her dad continuously argue until finally, her father stabs Sergey which leads to much turmoil in the family. 

Once the Soviet Union completely collapsed, it took no time for Western influence to completely take over Russian cinema, so much so, that in fact it has now pretty much completely replaced Russian cinema.  Where before forty to fifty films used to be produced, now only four or five are produced a year.  At the rate with which the trends are going, within a decade or so, there is a strong possibility that Russian cinema will die altogether:  “In 1992, Russia produced 172 films; in 1993, 152 films; by 1994, 68 films; in 1995, 46 films; in 1996, only 20 films, putting Russia behind Sweden and Poland in the “second tier” of European film production. At this rate, the “blood count” by the end of 1997 should be around thirteen feature films. (Condee 1)”  Even though there were many films released initially after the collapse of the Communist Regime, there are basically no significant films to mention once the 1990’s begin.

When taking a look at how Russian films changed after the arrival of Hollywood’s influence, it is very clear that there is a clear correlation between the arrival of Western influence with the destruction of Russian cinema.  Although initially, this influence did not negatively affect the Soviet Union’s national cinema, immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the amount and quality of the films produced drastically decreased as film industry stopped being funded by the government:  “The 1980s and 1990s were a period of crisis in Russian cinema. Although Russian filmmakers became free to express themselves, state subsidies were drastically reduced, resulting in fewer films produced. (“Russia”)” This resulted in the film industry being almost completely replaced by Hollywood films.  Most of the time, the Westernization of international films is viewed as a good thing because it allows us to watch these movies and have a greater chance of enjoying them, but in the case of Russia, it has almost resulted in the annihilation of Russian films.